The Virtues of Confession
by shelley.courchaine
Summary: ******AUTHOR'S NOTE****** Again big props to Kedrie my amazing beta for contributing so much of her talent to this story. Please remember to leave me reviews. I read them all. Also I know that I have taken some time between updates. I will try not to make you wait so long. :) Enjoy! Please feel free to hit me up on twitter @ShellCourchaine
1. Chapter 1

It had been three months since Kate had left Victory Munitions and no one seemed to notice. Well, almost no one.

Even though she knew it was pointless, at least once a day, Betty would find herself lost in thought about Kate as she watched the girls work the line. Lorna had been moved to the office for the remainder of her pregnancy and, as she had adamantly stated, Betty was the only one she could trust to keep all the girls in check. It was a big responsibility for sure, and filled her with both anxiety and pride. The bump in pay didn't hurt…even if it was only temporary. She was "the boss" now, and any whispers about why Kate left so suddenly were squashed instantly.

Betty smiled softly. She had learned a lot from Lorna on that account. It was frustrating though. Regardless of the controls she put into place, there were still murmurs behind her back as she walked by. The floor of women couldn't help it. It was always so instinctual to judge what was different, like packs of animals sticking together in their conformity, their silence and undisclosed looks unforgiving. She sighed at the thought. The showers were always difficult—the unease that poured off them, reminded her again of the dull ache inside.

This exiled state. This desire. Despite Betty's will, every now and then, one of the girls would laugh and tuck back a stray strand of hair from their face and it was enough to make her think of her.

Kate.

Marion.

God…whatever the hell she wanted her name to be.

_I have to stop this! _Betty beratingly told herself, closing her eyes as her hands clenched the clipboard. It wasn't getting her anywhere. These moments had become less frequent, but she still needed to keep her head in the game before someone got hurt.

_Focus on the task at hand. Make this the best production shift possible. Get the job done.  
_

Her internal pep talks would work for a time. Her eyes scanned the work floor as mechanical sounds washed over her. Just enough. This was just enough. It didn't take long before she was pulled back to the present moment, into directing the women forward, and into her very best.

X

Marion had been the ideal daughter since returning to her family. As her father returned to preaching on the street, she would stand strong and sing with such enthusiasm, such exuberance, that the people couldn't help but stop and listen. Words always held power, but the voice raised in song? Marion knew what it did. Open wide the heart of any man…. or woman, to suggestion, to judgment, to hope. She clamped down painfully on thoughts of a strong chin and rich light brown eyes….hair so soft. Those wandering visions lead to destruction, to her condemnation. To splinters in her chest.

As for her father, Marion had fully expected the beatings to continue. If she was honest with herself, she longed for them. To drum out of her these things that kept sliding back into her consciousness.

The feel of smooth inlaid wood from the bar on her fingertips….

Of slippery resonance sliding off her tongue…

Of music and laughter…

Of sitting at the piano….

Of hands on her wrist… of sweet soft lips searing her skin, this moment of…..

**_No!_** Marion pulled away again from her emotions. To touch this moment at all was to burn.

Father hadn't said so much as a harsh word to her since her return. Perhaps he knew that her self-loathing and inner turmoil was punishment enough. Why had she let herself be so utterly seduced by Betty and her world of sin? Why did the thought of Betty simply embracing her give her comfort?

Confusion reigned at times. She had lusted after Leon hadn't she? Leon with his deep soulful voice and strong hands. His kindness. Was that longing? Love? Could she divide the two? Did she even know what the words meant? Her mind never stopped asking questions despite her desperately wanting it to. Doing the dishes, ironing, it didn't matter. Nothing could shut them out. Still, Marion refused to answer the question her heart asked her every night. She wouldn't allow herself to speculate on one.

The only thing that gave her peace was her mother's smile. It would brighten a room when Marion walked in, when she held her hand, so fragile and still on the bed sheets. Her mother's health problems were getting worse, and those smiles were becoming scarce when the struggle to breathe filled the space between them. She had been so strong always. To see her reduced to this was painful and filled Marion's heart with regret. Her father had finally conceded that they needed to settle down and get steady jobs to pay the mounting doctor bills and put food on the table. With these words, she felt purpose reenter her soul. It was something to focus on, to put fuel into her hands as her heart raged. Through some stroke of providence, he had managed to get himself, Marion, and his oldest son Joshua jobs at a cannery in Trenton.

"God will provide!" he stated solemnly. "He always provides for those that follow the straight and narrow path. Those that renounce the perversions of the mind and flesh," his eyes flashed with hard unwavering intensity towards his daughter. Marion looked down at her shoes, unable to bring herself to acknowledge his words or his disdain.

When the first day of the cannery job began, Marion found she enjoyed working once more. The downside to this arrangement came in the form of Joshua. He was stationed on the same floor and took great pleasure in making sure that she didn't fraternize with any of her co-workers despite their friendly attempts. It was a just action on Joshua's part, she told herself. This way she was sure to be guarded from temptation and certain that she'd be chastised for returning any interest in making new friends.

_This is my life now._

_It was the right decision._

_This was where she belonged. _

_This was God's plan.  
_

Marion whispered the litany over and over and over again. So much so that she would chant it in time to her footsteps, her cadence unaltered, her thoughts blinded by repetition. It became familiar… but it was no friend. The words hollow and empty, the melody crushed from her heart.

X

Gladys had kept her promise alright. She refused to give up looking for Kate even when at times Betty had. She loved the idea of searching for a missing person. It made her feel like the lead in a spy thriller, the excitement bubbling up. A female Humphrey Bogart if you will. Sure Betty went along with some of her hair-brained ideas, but even Gladys had to admit that she _had_ gone a little overboard trying to hire the Royal Mounted Police.

"Give it up Princess! Sometimes people get lost because they just don't want to be found." This was Betty's common response lately. She'd shrug her shoulders after the pronouncement and light a cigarette, flashing a cool icy stare towards the faraway line of horizon.

Gladys knew better. Betty could try to hide it all she wanted, but Gladys was intuitive enough to see when she was thinking about Kate. The blonde would get this dreamy look on her face for a moment, and then just as suddenly, shake her head as if to scramble her thoughts back to the present. Gladys found it bittersweet. She and Betty had grown a lot closer since Kate left. Maybe it was because they were both in love with people who were so far away and inaccessible. Or maybe because they both had found the strength to say what was in their hearts and were willing to fight for what they wanted. Whatever the reason, they depended on one another for moral support. James hadn't sent so much as a telegram since leaving for England. The last news she had was from one of her father's friends. He had heard that James was somewhere outside of London. But she didn't hold much stock in that. Her father on the other hand couldn't have been prouder to boast that his future son-in-law was soon to be taking on Hitler with the strength provided to him by Witham Foods. She would roll her eyes every time he made the statement, but in the last few months their tenuous relationship had begun to mend. He still loathed the idea that she worked at VicMu and would, at least twice a week; try to convince her to go back to working in the office. She'd just shake her head and smile at him, her confidence firm. That's why his latest proposal had knocked her for a loop.

"We need some positive press at our canneries. We've been losing more and more men to the war effort! We need to bring in the women. You told me about the promotional film they did for VicMu. It'll be the same thing except this time, you'll be the star!" His voice rumbled through the dining room.

Gladys replied with steeled conviction. "Dad that's preposterous! I can't just leave for three days to go shoot some silly news reel in Trenton." Her hands clasped the napkin on her lap with a tight grip. Any move towards his advice and his agenda would work towards pulling her from her job. Gladys knew that he was trying to bait and lure her any way he could. Her eyes strayed to her mother when the body next to her tightened at her daughters rebuff.

"You've always wanted to be in the movies." Her mother added with a sharp tone of sarcasm, turning towards her.

Gladys rolled her eyes. "Not like this!

"Look," her father continued, "I think we've been more than fair in putting up with your recent shenanigans. You're still a part of this family and a part of my business, whether you like it or not."

"But…" the rest of the sentence died on Gladys' lips as her father interrupted.

"And don't worry about work. I've already cleared it with your boss."

Eyes widening, she pushed back on the chair and stood up from the table sharply. The chair legs bit into the hardwood and the jarring sound drew eyes to her figure. Her stiff posture in standing paralleled her sense of violation. "What? When did you do that?"

Eyes hard, her father met outrage with condescending explanation. "I phoned him yesterday. He seemed more than happy to be rid of you for a few days." Gladys flinched. The last was another purposeful barb, intent on putting her back in his ordered societal life. She hardened her jaw. The smirk on his face was very clear. Her work could never equal a man's work. She should be dissuaded from such notions. It burned. Gladys flexed the left hand gripping the cloth; her face betrayed none of the inner seething. They would never see anything but purposeful calm collection.

It was no big secret that once Harold Akins found out _who_ Gladys really was; he was constantly walking on eggshells around her and going out of his way to keep her out of harm's way. Lorna and Betty constantly had to talk him about his treatment of her. Getting Gladys out from the munitions floor, even just for a few days, was doing Harold the biggest favor in the world. It was a win/win… for her father, and her supervisor. There would be very little she could say or do to change this course of action.

Slowly sitting back down in her chair, she gently placed her hands forward on the tablecloth. Intently looking towards her father, letting the battle go, Gladys uttered softly. "Fine. When do we leave?"


	2. Chapter 2

"So you just couldn't stand that I made it to the silver screen before you eh?" Betty joked as she puffed on her cigarette.

Turning away from her friend, Gladys smiled and grabbed onto the handrail in front of her. "Ha ha Betts. I didn't have a choice. But it is for the war effort so I can't really complain."

Taking a long drag, Betty held it and slowly blew out a fine ring of smoke. She was silent for a moment, looking out at the glittering rain pouring of the roof in sheets. "I've never been to Trenton but I've heard they've got great chocolate truffles. Be a pal and bring me some back." Her lips pursed in a soft smile.

Gladys gave her a sideways glance. "Yes ma'am. Anything else?"

"Nope. Just the chocolates."

Smiling fully now, Gladys reached out and gave her friend's shoulder a squeeze. She turned slowly under the awning that held the rain from their heads headed back inside to pack.

Sunrise found Gladys and her father on the train outbound from Toronto. Everything had been arranged already. The ease of the trip meant that her father had set this up ages ago and had purposefully waited for the last minute to ask her to join the project. The internal boil had returned to her stomach at the thought, it took all she had to settle it.

The train ride was miserable. Her father amused himself in the dinner car, drinking glass after glass of fine whiskey, and indulging in political discussion with the other high class gentlemen. For most of the trip Gladys was left by herself, in her private car, looking out the window as the countryside passed by. She never cared for so much solitary introspection. Too much time alone with her thoughts never proved to be a good thing.

Her thoughts drifted towards James constantly. Of all the places he could be and more importantly _what_ he could be doing. Her forehead creased in worry. Why did he have to be so damned heroic? He hadn't cared all that much the war until Pearl Harbor. With the fervor of the fires exploding in the South Pacific, the events had galvanized and changed him. His duty to fight became an irresistible force that he would not stop talking about. It was like watching him fill out with this single minded purpose, this desire…that both thrilled and terrified her. Passion for the larger picture never seemed to touch her fiancé. But it was with him now. And then…then…he was gone. No letters beyond the initial goodbye. Perhaps he truly still hadn't forgiven her and this was a convenient, final, drastic way out.

_No! That wasn't true._ She knew better. She sighed and shifted in her seat at the thought. They had equally made mistakes. She was positive that when all was said and done… and this war was over… he would come home they'd finally be able to start their lives together. Hand in hand, with purpose. With the unspoken left behind them.

X

Marion was overjoyed. Her father had completely surprised her in agreeing to let her take her mother to a film for her birthday. He always preached that movies were nothing but instruments of lustful temptations, sent by the devil created by dirty Jews. Marion hated to think of what his views on Hitler's treatment of the Jewish people in Germany and Poland were. Perhaps it had been because of his wife's declining health that he had wanted to do something nice for her. Or maybe letting Marion be tempted by the images of handsome men was better than where he believed her interests lay. Whatever his reasoning, she didn't care. Joshua chaperoned, while her Father waited patiently outside the theatre drinking his coffee and reading his bible.

Marion and her mother took their seats near the back of the theatre while Joshua sat in the balcony so that he could keep a proper eye on things. Marion's mother was ecstatic. She hadn't seen a motion picture in twenty years and this was her first talking picture as well. The curtain raised and the news reels began. The first one opened to the war in the Pacific and despite the tone of the reel, Marion marveled at the island scenery. When they showed the beaches of Hawaii and the sand kicking up as Marines ran along the beach for their training exercises, all seemed beautiful and bright with the world. It was a stark contrast to the bitter cold and steel grey skies that covered her present. She began to get lost in fantasy of a trip to the islands when the reel ended and the next one began.

She heard the narrator begin: '_When our boys come knocking on Jerry's door, they know it will open wide. That's because Allied firepower is unparalled. And where do our munitions come from? From Betty the Bomb Girl'…_ Marion could hardly bear to lift her eyes, but the compulsion was just too great. They slowly crept up to the screen where a familiar face greeted her. Neither Joshua nor her mother knew anything about Betty. Their eyes never strayed to Marion, who was doing her best to maintain composure as a flood of memories came rushing back. She remembered the day they filmed the reel and how stunning Betty had looked. She felt the corners of her mouth trying to pull into a grin at the memory of Edith worrying about looking at the camera and all the girls fussing with their hair to make sure they all looked perfect. That day had been so full of fun and laughter. The last part of the reel began to play. The white house. The picket fence. And Betty… standing in front with a heart so full of regret as they taped a lie she would never live. Marion flashed back to where she had stood with Betty in front of that house as they had made plans for the future.

Tears stung her eyes as whirlwind emotion filled her. It seemed a lifetime ago since she had felt anything good, let alone the joy held in that moment. This pleasure mixed with pain, fire filling her chest unbearably as she fought to breathe. Something snapped inside Marion as she sat in the small theatre chair, frozen in the moment. She couldn't deny that she missed her old life, yes. The freedom it brought her was full and light and beautiful. Tipping the scales was the visage on the screen, the friend that was constantly trying to make it better by fighting the world, for herself, for Marion. The war promotional reel ended almost as soon as it began and the music swelled in the theatre as the film started. Wiping the moisture from her eyes slowly with the side of her coat, she took her mother's hand and forced a smile. The show played on.

X

The next day as she dressed for work, Marion felt completely drained. She hadn't got much sleep running through an emotional minefield during the night. Her sense of belonging was turned upside down, the world no longer spun on the same axis, and the intense need to understand desire almost destroyed her. She didn't know if what she was feeling was right or wrong, a sin against God or a gift. Whatever it was, it was completely overwhelming. Sighing, she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the dark circles that had formed under her eyes and her body was tight with stress. A nice boring day stuffing chopped meat into tin cans was sounding better and better. She straightened up slowly and pulled herself together.

"Let go Marion!" She could hear Joshua bellowing outside the door.

"I'm coming."

She took one last look at herself in the small bathroom mirror then headed out the door with her father and Joshua. Neither her father nor brother were particularly talkative so they walked in silence. As luck would have it, the cannery was only about a mile from their apartment so they didn't have to hassle with streetcars or taxis. When they made the last turn to head up the street where the cannery was located, they noticed that there was a lot more hustle and bustle for the morning shift. Marion strained her eyes to see what was going on and she noticed some familiar equipment being un-packed from a truck. It was lighting equipment for film. Her curiosity piqued, she began to speed up her pace but felt her father grab her arm.

"This has nothing to do with us. They are filming something about the cannery."

"You knew about this?" Marion asked her father.

"Of course I did. But I want you to steer clear of those men. My daughter's body is not for men to lust over."

He liked throwing in little verbal jabs here and there. While most of the family was still unaware of her more serious sins, they all knew about the damning photographs since it had been Joshua that found them.

"Yes Father," was all she could reply.

X

Gladys was in the cannery office chatting with some of the office girls while her father and the director went over the scenes for the film. They were all shocked when she told them what she really did for a living. They were nice girls but just like most high society daughters, they really could have cared less about their "jobs" and would rather go on gossiping about their equally well to do fiancés or beaus. She carried on with the women, and said all the right words and nodded at all the appropriate times. Conversation was an art as well as a game. Gladys had been taught by the best. An ironic smile carried itself to her lips.

After about twenty minutes of dull banter, her father called her over and they made their way down to the factory floor. The cannery was very bright, transforming it from the damp, dark warehouse to something more suitable for public consumption. Gladys looked around and noticed that not all the workers seemed to be at their spot on the lines.

"Not everyone wanted to be filmed so those that didn't are working in the store rooms for a few hours today while we finish up." Her father explained. "Later on we can take a full tour of the factory." Gladys shook her head in acknowledgement and just wished for this whole day to be over, so she could return to actually DOING something useful.


	3. Chapter 3

Eight hours later, the director yelled "Cut! That's a wrap!" and with that the torturous event had come to a close. Gladys wanted to get all the extra make up off her face as soon as possible so she excused herself and headed to the washroom. She opened the door, and rushed to the sink, splashing water on her face. The heavy eye makeup she had on began to run. Using hand towels, she scrubbed her face until it was clean. Smiling a bit at herself, she looked forward to returning to VicMu, tomorrow, the sense of belonging she felt there always lifted her spirits. Returning to the cannery floor, she turned down a hallway, and saw a flash of red hair at the other end.

Eyes widening, Gladys stood stock still for a moment, taking in her reactive thought, heart pounding. The color of it and the height of the woman that had walked past struck her in a jarringly familiar way.

'_No! It can't be!'_ she told herself. _'She couldn't be here.'_

She had to be sure. Gladys ran down the hall and looked to her right. A red-headed girl was about to walk into one of the store rooms, her back turned from her view.

"Kate!" Gladys shouted out, uncaring of who might hear.

Marion heard the familiar voice and froze. Panicking, she did not turn towards the voice, but set out in a dead blind run away from the storeroom doors and down another hallway. She couldn't stop running. Afraid to be found, she turned down hallway after hallway. She could hear Gladys's foot falls running behind her.

"Kate! Kate! Wait! Stop! I just want to talk to you!" Gladys panted out as she rounded the corner of the corridor.

Feelings overwhelmed the redhead as she hit the emergency exit stairwell. It was locked. There were no other doors. She was trapped. Her heartbeat loud in her ears, Kate turned to face her pursuer.

Gladys looked Kate over, eyes coming to rest on her face. "Oh my goodness! I can't believe it's really you," she exclaimed catching her breath. "Do you _know_ how long we've been looking for you?"

Marion's eyes looked to the floor as she instantly grasped onto the word "we've." She knew what Gladys meant. Betty.

Wincing at the thought of where Joshua might be, Marion grasped her hands in front of her. "Please Gladys, you have to let me be," she responded softly. Her tone was desperate.

Noticing her panic, Gladys took Kate's arm to steady her. "Kate, please, calm down. It's okay."

"No! No, it's not! I need to get back soon, he'll notice if I'm gone too long," Marion stammered out, unable to stop the trembling.

"He'll notice? Who? Your Father?"

Marion dragged her eyes from the floor and looked solidly at Gladys with the mention of her father. How much had Betty told her? "No, my brother Joshua works with me. He keeps an eye on me, so please, PLEASE let me go. If he notices us he will tell my father!"

Taking in Kate's posture and desperation, Gladys's heart flooded with compassion. The man truly did terrify his own child. She was like a deer before a hunter. The taste of this moment left bitterness in her mouth.

"Kate, please at least give me a moment to talk to you," Gladys said slowly, hands softly holding her arms.

"I can't. I can't. Please, let me leave."

Gladys looked into her tearful eyes and released her. Immediately Marion ran off wiping at her face, trying to hide the massive surge of emotions and thoughts that were coursing through her. Gladys on the other hand, steadied her resolve and knew there was no way in hell she was leaving this place without Kate. She exhaled heavily knowing the daunting task ahead and headed straight for the manager office.

X

An hour later, Marion made her way up the steep iron staircase towards the cannery's main administrative office. Her nerves were running high as she imagined the repercussions once her father learned of her departure from the storeroom. Gladys' arrival had done nothing but cause her fear to spike and set her thoughts racing. Reaching the door, she flattened out the front of her coveralls, adjusted her turban and went inside. There Gladys sat alone, waiting for her.

Marion's voice came out as an intense whisper. "What are you doing?! Don't you realize that I'm going to get in so much trouble for talking to you?"

"Kate calm down!"

"My name isn't Kate! It's Marion."

"Fine…Marion. Calm down."

"You don't understand. My Father keeps a very close eye on me," the redhead replied, panic still clutching at her with a death grip. She didn't move from the doorway.

Gladys' face softened. "How would your Father even know who I am? He's never met me."

"That's not the point."

"No, you're right. The point is you're terrified to breathe here! That is no way to live." She held out her hands to the girl. "Come home."

Marion had been wringing her hands through her whole exchange with Gladys frozen between indecision and hope.

"I can't Gladys. I have to stay. My Mother isn't well and we need the money."

"I'm sorry about that, but you know you can send the money from wherever you are. Kate…" Gladys caught herself and paused, her voice filled with compassion and slowed. "I mean… Marion. Once upon a time, you ran away before for a reason."

Marion looked up towards Gladys, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "My Mother helped me leave."

"Then do you think she'd want you using her as an excuse to keep from living your life?"

"You don't know anything about me or my family! Or about what _I_ want! You may have no respect for your parents but I still do!"

Gladys looked in shock at the woman before her. The responses were so different from the girl she remembered. It broke her heart to see her so wounded and lost. "You're right I don't. But I know my friend Kate and you are nothing like her."

"No I'm not. She was just someone I was pretending to be."

"Really?" Gladys said, walking towards her, taking the woman's hands in her own. "Because she seemed pretty real and honest to me."

The moment lingered, the words said.

Tears fell from Kate's eyes. She wiped at them, struggling to regain her composure.

"I can't go back Gladys. Not now, even if…even if I wanted too. Now did you actually really want to talk about the conditions of the cannery or can I go back to work?"

"Marion, please reconsider. I want to bring you back to where you belong. I know we can get your job back and everything can go back to being good again."

"I'm sorry. I can't." Marion turned and walked out the door.

"She misses you Kate!" Gladys exclaimed causing Marion to pause. "I just thought you'd want to know. She misses you like crazy."

Marion choked back her tears. How could Betty miss her? She had humiliated her. Anyway, it didn't matter. She couldn't go back.

"I… I'm sorry. I have to get back to work." Her voice was so small and weak the words were barely audible over the hum of the cannery.

"Kate…" Gladys sighed knowing full well that her estranged friend was struggling with her feelings.

Marion turned, her eyes sparkling from the tears that rimmed her eyes and pleaded. "Please Gladys. Don't tell her where I am. Let her forget me."

There was a heaviness to Gladys' heart as she heard the words. For her friends, for things lost, for things that should have been but weren't. She saw the sputtering of Kate within Marion, but ultimately it was for the woman in front of her to fight out the winner. For that battle, Gladys could do nothing but hope.

She closed her eyes and softly uttered, "I promise."

"Thank you." Marion turned and hopped down the metal stairs wiping her eyes as she went.

The shift end whistle blew just as Marion reached the bottom of the stairs and Gladys watched solemnly from the office window as her friend sped off towards the women's change room.


	4. Chapter 4

No sooner had her father seen Marion, he seized her right arm and was demanding what had gone on in the office.

"It was nothing," Marion answered trying to ignore the growing throbs in her arm from her Father's vice-like grip. "The cannery manager wanted to get my opinion on the condition of the factory as a new female employee. That is all Father." She winced at the increasing pressure being applied to her arm with every word.

"I thought I told you that what was going on today had nothing to do with us?" Vernon Rowley snarled practically digging his fingers into his daughter's flesh.

Unable to keep from yelping at the pain, Marion writhed trying to break free of the clamp around her numbing limb. "Father please," she pleaded, "I did what you asked of me. I stayed away from the film crew. I only went to the office when they called me from the storeroom!" The pain in her arm was becoming unbearable and she couldn't help the tears that fell down her cheeks.

Her father released her and Marion hunched over in agony grabbing her arm with her other hand cradling it. Vernon loomed over his daughter and drew in a deep breath. "And what did you say?"

Marion could feel his piercing gaze looking down on her. Her breaths came hard and fast. She stared at the ground, gathering her strength before righting herself, turning to her Father and looking him dead in the eye. "I told them that it's a very good place to work," her tears had stopped and she tried to keep her nerve as she continued to fabricate her exchange in the office with Gladys. "I told them that it was not my place to judge the condition of the cannery and I am just a woman. It is men's business as to how things should work and it was by God's grace that I was given the opportunity to work in such troubled times."

She had lied to him. In her entire life she could not remember a time in which she had done such a thing. 'Honor thy Father and thy Mother' had been thoroughly drummed into her but she had to keep her meeting with Gladys' secret. They needed their jobs at the cannery and she couldn't risk her father learning the truth and forcing them to move again. She also needed to protect Gladys. The last thing she wanted was for her father to make assumptions about her as he had with her and Betty.

Her father smiled at her reply. "Good girl." He gestured for them to begin their walk back home. Marion followed closely behind her father never taking her eyes off his back. It had been the first time in three months that he had raised his hand to her. Her arm was still pulsating from where he had clasped onto her. An emotion was coursing through her that she had never felt towards her father before. It burned inside like a flame and made her blood boil. Hatred.

_I hate him._

_I hate him with all that I am._

_But…._

_I did this to myself. _

_This is my punishment for disobeying God's law._

_For feeling… for living._

Marion knew the emotion she was feeling. With each step she could feel the bitterness growing within her.

The rest of the evening went quietly. Her father and brothers were out at a their weekly prayer group so Marion helped her mother with the dishes and tried to forget about Gladys and everything that her mind had churned up over the last two days.

Sensing her daughter's struggle, her mother gently tried to touch Marion's right arm. Without thinking, she violently slapped it away.

"Oh Mother! I am so sorry!"

"What's wrong? Did you injure yourself?" Her mother pulled her into an embrace.

"No."

"Then why did you…" There was no need to finish her sentence. The sad, desperate look on Marion's face said it all. Her mother slid the right side of her sweater down and saw the huge yellowish bruise forming on her child's alabaster skin.

"Please Lord, not again," she said bringing her hand up to her mouth, her voice shaking.

"It was only a matter of time," Marion was almost nonchalant in her response.

Her mother looked at her daughter tears brimming her eyes. "No! Not again!"

"What did you expect Mother? That I'd come back and Father would be so overjoyed that he would never raise his hand to me again? Or feel any sort of remorse for what he's done to me or Betty?"

"Who's Betty?"

Marion could barely breathe. The walls of the small two bedroom apartment began to close in on her and she felt trapped as she had earlier when Gladys had cornered her in the locked stairwell exit. There was no escape. She took a deep breath and pulled her mother into her room shutting the door behind her. Mrs. Rowley sat down on the bed and patted the space next to her in an attempt to call Marion to her side. The redhead instead began pacing the room, unable to keep her hands from shaking.

"Marion, darling whatever it is you can tell me," her mother pleaded trying to calm her daughter's raging nerves.

Collapsing in a heap onto her mother's lap, Marion wrapped her arms around her and began her confession; her voice shaking. "Oh Mother I…don't know if you can understand this. I don't even understand."

"My poor child, what in the world happened with this girl that has you so troubled?" Mrs. Rowley began lovingly stroking Marion's hair trying to still her.

"Betty was my friend Mother. My best friend. She helped me get through so much and I don't think I would have survived alone in the city if it hadn't been for her," she gripped her Mother tighter as the words continued to pour out of her. "With her I discovered a beautiful new world. It was full of laughter, music, life, and… and…love."

"Love?" Her mother stopped stroking her hair.

"She loves me Mother," Marion looked up at her Mother's face.

"Loves you how?"

"Like a man is supposed to love a woman," the tears once again began to flow from her eyes.

"I didn't ask for this! I know that it is a sin. That is why I came back Mother because the world she showed me was a lie. It was full of vice and depravity and that life can only lead to damnation."

Marion's mother grabbed her arms and pulled her up on her knees. She looked deep into the sparkling blue eyes seeing the struggle within.

"Is that what you really feel? Or is that your father talking?"

Taken back by her mother's question, Marion had no answer. She returned her mother's gaze but she couldn't hide the look of confusion on her face.

"Marion, you are the purest and most honest person I have ever known in my life. But your heart has always been at war with itself. You know what you want, but have always put others first because it is what you believe to be right. But my dear girl this time you need to listen to what your heart tells you," tightening the hold on her daughter as if trying to infuse her with the little strength she had left, she continued, "do you believe that God still loves you?"

Marion shook her head in reply.

"Does this girl make you happy?"

Marion found courage in her Mother's arms and replied. "Yes…she made happy. I've never felt this way before."

"And you love her too, don't you?"

There it was. The question that she adamantly refused to answer. Seeing only love and acceptance in her mother's eyes, calm came over Marion and the truth slipped from her lips.

"Yes."

Just then the bedroom door flung open. The sheer force caused the wall to shake as the door handle collided with it. Vernon Rowley stood with the posture of some great wild beast ready to charge and stomp out his enemy. His steeled eyes focused solely on his daughter.

"How dare you bring your perversion in THIS house!"

Marion shot up taking a protective stance in front of her Mother shielding her from her father's rage. "Where shall we discuss it then Father? In the barricade behind the house? In the wardrobe where none can hear me or see me or….I cannot hide from the truth anymore!"

"You will be eternally damned!"

His voice boomed through the air like a great thunder clap. "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. You will be cleansed or you will suffer God's wrath."

"You're not God!" Marion screamed back. "You are a scared old man too bitter and afraid to love anything. If anyone is damned to hell it's _YOU_!"

Vernon lunged at his daughter. Before Marion could react she felt the contact of his fist meeting her face. The force of the blow dropped her. The last thing she heard was her mother scream as her head hit the floor and everything went black.

The muffled sounds of voices shouting filled her ears as Marion started to gain sense of her surroundings. Her eyes fluttered open trying to focus on anything that could orientate her. Everything thing around her was pitch black except for a small horizontal strip of light. Marion stretched her arm out and felt the wood grain of her what she assumed was her closet door. Quickly finding the handle, she jiggled it only to find it locked. Panic overwhelmed her immediately as she scratched and pounded on the door like a caged animal desperately trying to break free of its bonds.

"Marion!" She could hear her Mother on the other side battling her father to release her.

"Let me out of here! Father! LET ME OUT!" Marion bellowed with all the force in her body. She continued her fight with the door, as the struggle raged between captor and savior. Suddenly, there was a crash. The unmistakable sound of glass shattering against hardwood rang in her ears followed by the high screech of her mother and a rush of wind. Fear gripped her.

"Vernon! Quickly we need to put it out!"

"No! Come with me. Let her burn like the depraved whore of the Devil she is!"

Still reeling from the impact of her Father's words, the acrid smell of the smoke quickly filled her prison, making Marion nauseous. She could hear the flames crackling as they began to consume her bedroom and an eerie amber glow was emanating from the crack under the door. Pounding on the door for her life she was running out of options. She tried to kick the door down, but the wood was solid and her foot ricocheted causing a searing pain to shoot up her leg.

Marion was screaming at the top of her lungs for help. The smoke became overpowering and inhaling it burned like acid. Taking in a gulp at a time there was nothing left to breathe but ashes. Her throat felt like it was being shredded from the inside out. It was like drowning... except for the scorching agony that accompanied it. Her eyes stung and watered, blinding her. Marion could feel herself succumbing. Her head was heavy; her breaths were short.

_I have to live._

_I have to live. _

_I have to live. _

She gathered all the strength she had to make one last attempt at the door, ramming her shoulder into the hard grain. It stayed firm. In a last act of exertion, she managed to climb to the back of the closet.

"This can't be the end! Please God," Marion prayed.

A clanging sound brought new hope. Someone was trying to break the handle off the door. Renewed by whoever her savior was, Marion bolted back to the door and again pleaded for help.

"Marion! I almost have it!" Her mother's voice rang out. The lock finally gave way and Marion forced the door open.

Thank God! Quickly, I hit your Father over the head with the wash basin, but we need to pull him to safe…" before she could finish, a hand latched onto her arm spinning her violently around. Vernon cursed his wife and daughter as blood dripped down from a deep gash on the side of his head.

"Both of you will burn in Hell for your betrayal." The back of his hand crashed violently against his wife's cheek and she instantly fell to the floor unconscious. Marion rushed to her mother's side trying to revive her. "Father HELP ME PLEASE!"

"You will both burn in Hell," he repeated backing out of the room slamming the door shut.

Marion stared wide-eyed in shock as the lock clicked. They were trapped. The room was engulfed in flames and closing in on them fast. The air was thick with smoke. Adrenaline pumped through her as her eyes darted around the room. Seeing the window, she removed her shoe she threw it as hard as she could shattering it. Some of the smoke was finally able to escape and Marion's vision improved. Navigating through the flames she peered through the window and thanked God for them only being on the second floor, but it was still a long way down. Hurriedly, she went back to her mother who had finally begun to regain consciousness.

"Mother," she pulled her mother off the floor, "we have to jump!"

Her Mother was coughing hard. "Marion, where is your father?"

"He locked us in here!"

Her mother's eyes turned to her daughter's heartbroken. "Vernon. May God forgive you."

Marion wrapped her arms around her Mother leading them towards their freedom. Her mother's breaths where ragged and a quick. Her coughing incessant. The older woman began to choke on the noxious fumes. Finally reaching the window her mother took one look out the window and froze in her child's arms.

"We can make it Mother!"

"No, Marion you can make it. This is your last chance my darling girl. You need to save yourself."

"NO!" Marion grabbed her mother by the arms shaking her.

"Marion you have too! There is no hope for me. I can feel it. God is ready for me to join him. Please daughter! Live! Please!" There were no tears in her eyes. She stood still and confident.

Marion begged for her mother to at least try, but she would have none of it.

"Leave here now Marion, before I push you out," she ordered steadfast in her resolve.

Knowing she was defeated, Marion pulled her mother to her in a fierce last embrace. "I love you Mother. Peace be with you."

"And with you. I love you Marion. Now go."

Marion looked down to the courtyard below. She backed out of the window and clung tightly to the sill as her feet tried to find the brick edifice. Her mother's hands slid over hers. She looked up into her mother's face. Her eyes sparkled with tears but she was smiling. Marion couldn't let go. Their eyes locked with one another, mother and child. With a final effort, her mother pushed her daughter's hands from the sill and Marion plummeted to the earth.

Marion hit the ground hard. Pain was everywhere, her hands bleeding, her side sending shooting fire into her breaths. She pushed herself up slowly from the surface, hands sliding on blood. Her mother's smiling visage beamed down on her. She rose from the hard earth and backed away from the burning apartment never taking her eyes off the window until she finally saw the fiery glow overtake her mother's silhouette. In the distance Marion heard the faint sounds of sirens, the cry of the other building tenants but above it, like a whisper in the air Marion heard her mother's voice. Final. Still. Absolute.

"Live Marion. Live."


	5. Chapter 5

_This waiting. This constant of not knowing. Will she live? Will she wake up as she was, or someone new? Will the hatred still be there masking her eyes? Sometimes it feels like just having the truth out there is better. _

_Better for everyone. Better for me. _

The silence in here is deafening. Crisp and clean white sheets cover a lithe female form. Soft hands gently stroke a bruised cheek. Betty fought the tears that pooled at the corner of her eyes. Sitting down next to Kate, she brushed her finger tips across the top of one of her bandaged hands. Drying her tears on her sleeve, she looked at the face once so angelic, now swollen and marked small abrasions. Eyes that once sparkled with joy now stared blankly into space like two icy blue stones. If it wasn't for the rise and fall of her chest with every breath, one could think the girl was dead.

Betty's vigil at her friend's side was constant. It had been three days since she had arrived at the hospital. There was nothing she or Gladys could do but wait. Kate had fallen into a catatonic state of shock. The doctor told them that whatever trauma caused it had to have been extremely severe. He said he hadn't seen a case this bad since soldiers coming back from the Great War. Coupled with the extent of her injuries, wherever she had escaped from, she had fought like hell to do so. Betty had a strong inclination on who exactly was to blame for Kate's current state. Every thought of Vernon Rowley sent her into a blinding rage. She swallowed her bitterness and sheer desire to find the man and rip him limb from limb. Right now everything was about Kate. Betty felt her anger still, but it was far from having disappeared. She soothed it away with thoughts of laughter, and beautiful eyes. A silent prayer ran through her mind as she focused on the woman before her. _Please…please wake up. Please tell me what it meant? Please wake up and set me free._

The door opened, breaking the silence.

"How is she doing?" Gladys asked slipping into the chair next to Betty placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"No change."

"You'll see Betts. She'll come out of this and everything can get back to normal."

"Except things will never be normal again," the blonde's bitter tone cut through the still air.

X

Five Days Prior….

Gladys sat on the edge of her hotel bed, her mind drifting back towards Kate and the cannery visit earlier. She was still stunned at how closed, and frightened the girl was…like she was looking at a completely different creature from the friend she had come to know. Gladys knew what it was like to have an over bearing father, but to be _that _afraid of someone was foreign concept to her. Why had Kate voluntarily returned to such a life? Had she been so repulsed by Betty's confession that she was willing to endure such a pitiful existence simply to avoid her? She didn't think so. In the cannery office the mere mention of Betty had thrown the redhead off her axis. Gladys was all too familiar with this behavior and its meaning. Her mind immediately went to her separation from James. The feeling of desperation. Of yearning for any news. Gladys knew Betty's feelings, but until today she hadn't realized that Kate might feel the same way. She was conflicted. How was she going to be able to keep this from Betty? Wanting to spare her dear friend any further heartbreak she decided that it was best to keep her promise. Just then there was a knock at the door. Assuming it was the porter coming to get her bags, she opened the door. Before her stood a pale, soot-covered and bleeding Kate shielding a part of her face with her hand.

"Oh my God! Kate!" Gladys exclaimed, her hand rising to cover her mouth in shock.

Kate didn't answer right away. Her eyes had a glassy quality to them as she propped herself against the doorframe. Trembling in nothing but a thin cotton dress, her voice was weak and breathy. "I did it. I found you."

"Kate! Who did this to you? What happened?"

There was no response. Gladys quickly grabbed onto Kate as she fell into her arms in a heap.

"Kate! Kate please! Talk to me!" She exclaimed patting her cheeks trying to revive her. Kate's eyes fluttered as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

"Kate? Kate. KATE!" Gladys' pleas were desperate, but they had little effect. She pulled the shaking girl to her.

"Stay with me. Come on!"

Kate winced. Just the moving of her body into Gladys sent a rush of adrenaline through her. The agony in her left side felt like it was stabbing her lungs, the burning of her own breath sending shooting fire into her chest as she struggled to speak. Coughing violently, her eyes opened. She pushed back from Gladys as she tried to focus on her face.

"Gla…" Each word sliced her like knives. She gripped onto the back of Gladys' head pulling her towards her. Gathering every last ounce of strength she had left, she looked Gladys dead in the eye and forced the scratchy, barely audible words out from her lips.

"I need Betty. Please Gladys. I need her. I need to tell her…"

X

Betty opened the door to her room and looked around, eyes glancing towards the bed and the small table beside it. Music from the hallway leisurely drifted from three doors down. She could hear laughter and voices. Her fingers lightly skimmed a glass on the dresser as she silently closed the entrance behind her, shutting it all out.

This had become routine again… sequestered away in her space.

Eyes closed, she leaned back against the door, turned off the light, and pulled a wrinkled pack from her pocket. Shaking a thin butt from its end, she lit the roll and breathed it in. Her eyes slowly opened and fell upon the small window. Stars glittered back at her in the night sky. Today had been a rough day. She poured herself a tall glass of whiskey and sat down on the bed nursing it, letting the stress of the day melt off of her shoulders. As she often did, she pulled the headshot of Kate from night stand and stared at it. Trying to force the pain in her chest into submission, she took a big swig on her drink. Emptying the glass, she quickly went to refill it. More than once, the blonde had almost ripped the damned picture in half in an effort to finally put Kate to rest, but she couldn't. It felt like there was this cord taut with the space and tension between them. Her heart was still tethered to this girl that had slipped into her life. She emptied the glass again. The outrage began to rise as her mind slipped into a drunken haze.

_You left me…_

_You're a coward…_

_You made me fall in love with you and you left me…_

_I hate myself._

It had been three months, but the events of that night still haunted the walls of the rooming house and often Betty could hear Kate's words resonate through them like a ghost. _'I don't want this anymore. And I never wanted you._' Betty felt her eyes moisten, but forced her tears back. Still holding the photograph, she brought it to her lips. Her mind shifted to a smoky bar, the feel of Kate's hand on her back, the soft skin of her palm, her lips. Everything in that moment had felt so perfect. But her intuition had betrayed her. _'That's disgusting and if you can't see that then you're disgusting too!'_

Frustrated and drunk, Betty crumpled the picture in her hand and threw it to the floor wishing the thing would disappear. No, she wished she could finally evict Kate from her life. She stumbled to the bureau to fill her glass again, but the bottle was empty.

"Dammit!"she cursed as she flopped onto the bed. Lighting another cigarette, she took a long drag and let the smoke linger in her mouth, savoring the taste, the slight burn. Her eyes fixated on the wadded up photo.

_I would have done anything for you…_

_Anything…_

There was a fierce knocking on the door.

'_Who in the hell is bothering me at 9:30 at night?'_ Betty thought. "Go get stuffed! I'm busy!" Betty shouted slurringly at door.

"Betty open up! It's me Gladys!"

Betty was too inebriated to notice her panicked tone. A slight smile teased the edges of Betty's mouth as she stumbled forward almost falling off the bed attempting to get to the door. "What princeessss? Did ya think I couldn't wait till morning to get my truffles?" She goaded as she fumbled to get the door open.

Gladys rushed into her room. "I need you to come with me right now."

"Well good evening to you too. Geez Witham. You rich gits sure can be so rude you know that?" Her words were barely audible as they stumbled over eachother.

"You're drunk. Aren't you?" Gladys' eyes found Betty's and she stopped rushing about the room to focus on the blonde who sat back down on the mattress.

"Yup. Lots of time for drinking when you don't have anywhere to be." Betty turned her head to the side and looked towards the wall.

"Well we'll deal with that later. I need you to pack some things. We're going to Trenton."

Betty looked back sitting up. "What the…hell no!"

Gladys didn't have time for delicacies. They needed to get back to the hospital as soon as possible.

"I found her Betty."

Fumbling with her top, Betty drunkenly replied, "Who?"

"Kate."

Betty immediately froze. Her mind, still swimming in alcohol, began overwhelming her with a deluge of emotions as she tried to process the words. All she could focus on was her bitterness. The fact that Gladys had found her, that Kate left, that she was so weakened by a pair of blue eyes and red hair; all of it stung like salt in a fresh wound.

"Good for you."

"Betty," Gladys saw the pain in her friend's expression, but she stood by the courage of her convictions. Even if she had to drag her all the way to Trenton by the hair, she needed to get Betty to Kate's side.

"What?" The tears once again had begun to sneak up to the corners of her eyes. "She left me. She doesn't need me. She…" choking on the last words, her bitterness forced her to spit them out, "she doesn't want me."

"She's in the hospital."

Betty immediately jumped from the bed and almost fell onto Gladys as she stumbled to her grabbing her shoulders to steady herself. "What?"

"She's in the hospital Betts. I checked her in myself under my Mother's name in case someone was looking for her. The doctors say she's catatonic. Suffering from some sort of shell shock they say. Betty…" Gladys took Betty's hands, "someone worked her over pretty well."

The anger rose in Betty like a thermometer. Her already red nose and flushed cheeks grew a deeper shade of crimson.

"Her father."

"Probably." Gladys shrugged.

Betty tossed Gladys' hands away, backed up and laughed shrugging her shoulders in desperate exasperation. "That is what she left us for?" Betty was choosing her words very carefully.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she continued. "Am I so terrible, so evil, that knowing that you could be beaten to a pulp is a better option?"

Gladys tried to catch her flailing arms to steady her. "Betty please…"

"She chose this! She left and never looked back!" Betty shouted at Gladys, sinking against the bureau, her face a mask of pain. She reached for her cigarettes, pulling one from the pack, she managed to light it but it dangled precariously on her lips.

"I wanted to give her everything," she grabbed the cigarette with two fingers and pointed them at Gladys, "and she couldn't handle it. She left me and didn't give a damn about anything but her precious God and pleasing Daddy."

Her head swung down as she chuckled. Popping her head up, she looked up at Gladys with glassy eyes. "Look where is got her?" She chuckled again taking a long drag from her cigarette.

Gladys looked at her from the other side of the room, her arms crossed, the air charged between them. Unabashedly she replied, "Betts, you are not thinking this through. She is hurt in a hospital and you are talking about what? Your anger?! I hear what you are saying, but listen to yourself. For once in your life this isn't about you!"

The words stung Betty as they met with her own inner turmoil. Everything was always about someone else. Her feelings were always inconsequential. Always wrong. Always second best. It was too much… too many feelings swirling around her heart as her head was clouded from reason. She couldn't contain all of this emotion without bursting. Betty grabbed the neck of the empty bottle still standing on the dresser and smashed it down hard on the wood. Glass shattering, Gladys flinched and recoiled at the sound and sight of her friend.

Blood dripping from her hand, tears streaming down her face, Betty slid to the floor, head bowed.

Gladys unwrapped herself from her shock and knelt down by her. "Oh Betty," she pulled a handkerchief out from her coat pocket and tenderly wrapped Betty's hand. She reached up and wiped the tears from the devastated girl.

"Listen to me." Her voice was calm and clear. "I am going to stand you up. We are going to fix up your hand. And you are going to straighten yourself out while I pack a bag for you. You are going to come with me to see Kate."

Betty gazed at her dumbstruck.

"You are coming with me dammit, because when you sober up you are going to hate yourself for not going."

"Why? She doesn't need me." Her eyes her eyes still glittered with emotion.

"That's not true. The last thing she said before she lost consciousness was that she needed you and she needed to tell you something."

"What?"

"I don't know. You have to find that out for yourself."

"What about work?"

"Stop looking for excuses. I'll take care of it. Get up" Her last words were sharp and precise. Gladys stood up and offered her hand to Betty. "Come on."

Betty's mind raced to find its way back to some sort of coherency. Clarity found her as she clung to Gladys' words.

_She needs you…_

_She needs to tell you something…_

Taking the outstretched hand, Betty rose to her feet. Gladys placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. Finding strength in her words and in the confident expression on her face, Betty managed a small smile.

"Okay."


	6. Chapter 6

Betty ran a bandaged hand thru her wavy hair, leaned back in the metal chair, slowly placing her weight against the whitewashed cinderblock wall. The chill of its surface flowed into her shoulder, wrapping its ice around her bones. Eyes shut tight against the assault of the measured tock of the iron-bound wall timepiece, it was all Betty could do to not throw anything and everything in that room against its unyielding quality. The sound whispered inevitability, desolation, and the never changing features of Kate's face.

Eyes wide.

Vacant.

Her face half covered in blisters and rough lined scabs. Something inside Betty broke every time she looked at her. The VicMu supervisor cracked her eyes open and moved her gaze upon the injured red-head girl lying so listlessly upon the sheets. She couldn't help it. Couldn't stop looking. Despite how it shredded her sensibilities. Today would be different. It HAD to be different. Too much time had passed since arriving here three days ago. Betty's sense of helplessness had tripled every day they had waited. Waited for Kate to finally come out of this. To help her. To heal her. Her impatience boiled out into the quiet still air around her.

_Dammit._Betty couldn't stop wanting this thing to end. They needed to get her out of this room, this town. Kate's father was still here. _**Vernon. **__Bastard! _Her mind screamed with the vehemence as her jaw locked down hard, grinding teeth together. She had never felt this level of rage in her heart before. Tearing that man apart would be a mercy kill compared to what Betty desired to unleash upon him. How could anyone, anyone who professed to love this woman, hurt her like this? Inadequacy raced within her… she couldn't stop it. She didn't stop this from happening. Looking down at her hands, still showing the cuts from the smashed bottle, she turned them over.

So small. So small. How could anything so small hold something so precious?

Her eyes shifted to Gladys, resting against the large window frame.

Betty and Gladys had remained by Kate's bedside for the last few days, barely speaking to one another. They would sleep in shifts, hunched frames curled into the small room's chairs, as the other would watch over their friend. Conversation was sporadic and always held at the mercy of Betty's intensity. The washroom at the end of the hall was their saving grace to movement and sanity, giving them purpose to freshen up with the cold water available to them. Everything about this place was cold, sterile and bare. It had been slipping into Betty slowly like knives, driving her mad.

Occasionally, at least once every few hours, Gladys would try to inject some levity by throwing in a silly anecdote from their shared memories of Kate. It was a "Do you remember the time when?" or "Wasn't it funny when she did that?" Betty appreciated the brunette's attempts to lighten the mood, but she was finding it increasingly annoying. This had to end. They couldn't stay in Trenton forever. Gladys had managed to buy them some time off from VicMu, but only a week. Refusing to let a silly thing like work interfere in them being there for Kate, Gladys offered to drive them to the hospital every weekend if she didn't pull through soon. Truly, she had misjudged Gladys when they had first met. The woman was true blue.

"Hey Gladys?" Betty looked up at the brown haired girl who was busy thumbing through an old issue of _Movie Story, _light streaming in from the window.

"What is it Betts?"

"I don't think I've ever apologized to you for the way I treated you," she said, looking at her from across the room, eyes clear and somehow measuring. "I wouldn't have made it through these last few months without you."

"Betty…" Gladys gave her a warm smile and gently put the magazine on the shelf to her right. She stood up and walked towards where Betty had planted herself against the wall, reaching out to clasp her hands.

"I mean it," Betty continued shaking her head. "You were right to bring me here." A pause lingered as she struggled to move the lump that had suddenly grown inside her throat. She looked at her friend silently. "I never would have forgiven myself. I've been such a miserable cow lately. I know I'm a lot to put up with. You're aces Witham and I'm sorry it took me so long to see what an amazing friend you are."

Gladys' eyes flooded with emotion as she knelt down and put her hands on the distraught woman's knee. "Oh Betty, you don't need to apologize."

"Yes. I do. I really do. She saw it," Betty's eyes drifted down to Kate, "she saw it and never judged you. Not like I did. Kate never judges anyone."

_Well almost no one. _The blonde pushed the bitter thought to the back of her mind. She felt her eyes starting to moisten and looked away towards the window, keeping the deep well at bay.

"Hey Betty?" Gladys shook their clasped hands trying to regain Betty's focus. "She's going to come back. I know it. If it takes a day or a year, she's going to come back to us. You'll see," she smiled brightly.

Betty didn't say anything she just gripped onto Gladys' hand harder, looking across the room. "Thank you," was all she could get out.

The smile twisted knowingly. "You're welcome. Now stop being silly." Dropping Betty's hand, Gladys turned her head to look at the clock on the far wall. "I am famished. But honestly I can't take another round of that charred shoe leather they are passing as beef brisket in the canteen. Would you mind terribly if I nip back to the hotel for a decent meal? I won't be longer than an hour."

Raising her eyebrow in false protest Betty huffed, "I s'pose Princess. I can't expect you to eat like us poor commoners every meal."

"Betty!" Gladys smiled at her friend's long absent smirk.

"Really, it's fine. I kinda want to spend some time alone with her."

Gladys gathered her things, walked around to Betty gave her a quick hug and a quick squeeze of Kate's hand. "One hour. I promise."

As soon as the door closed, Betty again tuned into the spell of sounds around her. Keeping still, she waited. Fifteen minutes passed. Then twenty. Thirty. Kate's gentle steady breaths measured the minutes, the murmur of the hospital, and every other sound echoed loudly. Betty and her thoughts. She smirked begrudgingly and rolled her eyes at herself. Pathetic. The levity passed and suddenly, Betty desperately wished she hadn't let Gladys go. Her presence seemed to keep her emotions in check, but now alone, she could feel them beginning to churn inside her. She struggled to contain herself. After all what was the use of talking to a brick wall? Gladys may have believed all that mumbo jumbo that people in Kate's condition could hear what's going on around them, but if that was true why didn't she just wake up? They both had begged it of her enough. The doctors, the nurses, they had all tried and nothing. She wished Kate would give some sort of sign. A change in her breathing, a flicker of her eyelids, anything. For Gladys' sake and mostly because she didn't want a lecture from her about her behavior, Betty was constantly biting her tongue and swallowing the bile she could feel rise in throat when she replayed the series of events that had led them all to a sterile hospital room in Trenton.

She got up from her chair and started to pace the room with measured steps, every so often glancing back towards Kate. With each step she could feel her bitterness rise. _NO!_ She was better than this. Kate had escaped from her Father's clutches again. She had suffered and was still suffering. Kate needed her to be strong, to fight her bitterness, to hold her hand and remind her that there was another life waiting for her. There was another chance for Kate. Regardless of how Betty would fit into that chance, she would do her damndest to make sure the beautiful singer had her shot at a life. Free.

_But that doesn't mean that life involves you._

_She told you. You're disgusting and she doesn't want you._

_Why __**after everything**__ are you still clinging to her?_

Seeing her reflection in the window frame, Betty took herself in. Gaunt cheekbones, rim-red tired eyes. _Because. _She told herself as she grimaced. _Because goddammit, Kate was worth any price. Any cost. Any consequence. Even in losing her._

Just as it had five nights prior, Gladys' voice in her head sobered her, "_She needs you and she needs to tell you something."_

Betty returned to her place at Kate's side taking the redhead's free hand wrapping her own around it. She looked at the frozen expression on Kate's face. It was like a statue, cold and emotionless. She didn't know what compelled her to do so, but she uncurled their hands and brought Kate's cold palm to her mouth. She lightly brushed the soft flesh with her lips. The blonde kissed the cupped hand as she had done that night at The Tangiers.

"Kate… Please," she breathed into the palm, feeling the warmth of her own breath ricocheting off the cool skin.

Nothing.

Betty cursed at herself. Had she honestly believed that _that_ would work? It was her kisses that had destroyed everything in the first place. Why would they suddenly work now like in some ridiculous child's fairytale? She had to stop this before she became lost. She had spent the better part of three months drowning in a bottle, but now her crutch was gone and she was face to face with the cause.

"Come on, damn it." Her tone was stern but soft. There were things that needed to be said and it was now or never.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing to me? To yourself? Why Kate? Come on! Tell me why you left. And don't give me some bullshit excuse about God. Tell me the real reason." The blonde's voice rose in intensity even as she ran her hand thru scarlet locks, gently letting them fall back against Kate's delicate face.

"You know…" she chuckled doing her best to keep a more level tone, "Gladys called me selfish the other day for going on and on about my feelings."She rubbed her uninjured hand against her temple tiredly. "But you know what? They matter Kate. I matter. I matter even if you never give me the time of day again. What makes me ME, is what I feel. And what I feel is full of you. Everywhere. It's everywhere. It's everything I'm breathing right now," her words stumbling over themselves as they poured out of her. "These past three months… they've been torture for me. Now here you are and I don't even know if you can hear me after what you've been through." She was having trouble speaking now. "Don't you understand that you've become my whole world? Every thought, every move, every dream… every nightmare… is all about you."

Trying desperately to fight back bittersweet tears that pooled in her eyes, Betty continued. "Why do I always have to be the one that understands and gives way? When is it my turn? Why…" she gulped locking her eyes onto the frozen face beside her, "Why can't I have the one thing I want more than anything in this world? Why should I keep what's inside of me locked away? For God and country? Because I might offend someone? For Christ sakes the world is ending _right now_, an ocean away!" Betty in exasperation flung a hand outwards towards the window. Her fervor fueling desire for a cigarette, a drink, anything to calm the wave of emotions taking over her.

"Well I don't care what you or anyone thinks of me Kate. Do you get that? I don't care. Not anymore. I know what I am, who I am and how I feel… I know I scared you," her eyes closed briefly then opened. "I get that now. But I showed you more of myself than I've ever done for anyone. Seeing you like this… I can't stand that you going back to a life that would hurt and abuse you like this was the better option. I refuse to believe that was your desire! If you come back only to never look at me again, just wake up. This is your shot. Please."

Minutes dragged by. "Please," Betty held her breath, listening. Waiting.

"Please… tell me what it is you needed to say so…so I can finally know. So I can finally say goodbye." Betty whispered with such hesitation. The frailty in her heart infuriated her, being vulnerable wasn't something she did often, or well. Like a dam breaking, tears peaked and flowed freely from hooded golden brown orbs. Her wrapped hand absently caressed Kate's cheek.

She rested her head on the hospital bed. The soft cotton fabric of Kate's bed sheets felt cool against her burning cheek. She stretched out her left hand and ran it through the red hair. Closing her eyes, Betty let her thoughts spill from her lips. "I am so pathetic. Even now… after everything… all I want to do is take your pain away. I still want to keep you safe. I can't help myself. I still…" a tear rolled over the bridge of her nose and fell onto the bed, "I can't do this anymore Kate. I need you to release me. Either release me or make me yours. But I can't live like this anymore."

"Wake up. Please wake up." Betty was spent. Months of pent up emotions had finally released themselves. Whether or not her confession would have any affect she didn't know, but that didn't matter. The words had been said. Shifting her torso, she lifted herself up and leaned closer to Kate's face. Her head hovered inches away hers. Closing the distance, she gently kissed soft pink lips, tasting the salt from her tears as they fell.

"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't, but I can't fight this," she closed her eyes, taking a measured breath. "I love you."

Her confession hung in the air. Silence consuming, damning. Exhausted, Betty laid her head onto the bed. Taking Kate's free hand, she entwined their fingers never looking back up at Kate. Instead she continued to hold their hands together, the small absentminded circular movements from her thumb caressing Kate's wrist. Tears continued to roll across her face pooling on the mattress. Her eyes were heavy and before long she felt herself drifting between consciousness and sleep. Finally her eyes closed and dreams mercifully let her be.

Sounds….rustling of leaves, chilled wind. Her mind was having trouble deciphering sound from sight, flavors from sensations. She could hear someone whispering to her, but she couldn't decipher the words. She couldn't make out the voice. Betty felt someone gripping her hand but she didn't know who. The voice grew stronger as she felt herself pulled forward, away from the grey misty autumn morning that surrounded her unconscious mind. It was barely louder than a whisper, but the words were clear and right in her ear. Opening her eyes, she looked upon a hand clasped around hers on a white plain, the rustling of sheets murmured against her head. Eyes widening, but not daring to break the spell with movement, she paused as deer before the hunter. Holding her breath, her mouth gently parted open, attuned ever so silently to the voice as it continued.

"I had this amazing dream Betty… I was on stage at The Tangiers singing but there was no one in the bar except you. There was no band, but somehow there was music playing. You took me in your arms and we danced. All night. It was beautiful and warm and you felt so close. I never wanted to leave," the voice paused, its melodic, intimate tones silent for a moment. She felt the slide of a droplet of wet falling upon her hair.

"My Mother's dead, Betty. She's dead because I wouldn't lie anymore about what I feel. Everything is too short. And, I can't… I can't go another day without telling you. I will never let you go. If it takes the rest of my life for you to forgive me, I don't care. You fill me with words and songs and light, and I can't spend one more moment not having that again. Never again," Kate tightened her grip on Betty's hand and laid it back onto the mattress, coughing as she did. Another teardrop fell on Betty's head, her raw heart breaking open with those words. Her head came up, face full of unwavering hope. Their eyes met, silky azure staring back upon Betty's roughworn face, drawing upwards to meet her eyes.

No one had looked more beautiful to Betty than Kate did in that moment. Shining with clarity and conscious will, a slight smile curving her upper lip over the cuts that marred the right side of her face. Betty's breath caught in her throat. There were no words. No words big enough for what lay between them. Not daring to challenge Kate, the heaviness of her heart slid away and was replaced with a need for certainty. A need to truly touch, understand. To discover Kate and know. Drawing a deep breath, a slight gleam of desire flaring in her gaze, Betty leaned forward with all the trust she could muster within herself. Kate's hand came up again and cupped her face lingeringly. Filled with emotion, this time there was no hesitation, no qualms, no thought of anything but the woman before her, daring her to meet this thing half way.

Kate caught Betty's mouth with her own, half-closed eyes caught in her focus. A rush of pressure and sensation as fluid as silk as Betty's hands reached forward and gently held Kate in place as she reverently returned the heat, her kiss hesitant, almost disbelieving in its slow measure. For the first time in her life, Kate lost herself in the moment. Despite the pulling pain on the side of her face, nothing mattered but the feel, like fluttering wings in her stomach, distracting in its intensity. She held tighter to Betty discovering her upper lip as her tongue teased the woman to opening her hot wanting mouth to her own. She knew everything about the song, the feel of notes as they poured from her, conjuring desire and passion that would fade with the notes. But this moment… this was so real, it made her breath catch, her thoughts a jumble as it raced thru her body. Betty was lost, so lost in the feel of Kate's face beneath her, her hands tangled in her hair, she missed the door slowly opening to the room.

Footsteps rung out on the tile and a gasp rang out. Betty slowly pulled away from Kate, her injured hand still entwined with the woman lying upon the bed. Both of their heads turned towards Gladys, who had a bag in hand and a hurried, worried expression on her face. "Oh!" she exclaimed. Dropping the bag she ran up to the bed, gave Betty a beautiful smile and, reached out to Kate. "You're awake! Thank god," she continued. Looking from one woman to the other she quickly began to pack up what little they had brought to the room with them, rushing towards Betty she took her hand. "There's isn't a lot of time. Vernon is downstairs. I'm so glad you're awake because… we need to leave. _Right now_."


	7. Chapter 7

******PART SEVEN******

The clouds had gathered darkly in the last hour that she had been gone. Gladys could feel the pin drops of moisture begin to fall as she made her way down the cobblestone street, heels clicking hard on the stone. She had returned to the hospital with a renewed spring in her step. The momentary escape from the intensity of the situation, gave her a chance to gather her thoughts on what their next move would be if, in fact, they could not succeed in rousing Kate from her catatonia. Thoughts turned towards the image she had left in the room of the blonde leaning against the bed eyes closed. She couldn't help wonder what Betty had gotten up to in the hour since she'd last seen her. The woman had been a ball of nerves on the edge of implosion for days, unsurprisingly. Gladys rounded the side street corner with a brisk walk and clamored up the concrete steps to a large, overbearing building. Over the course of the past few days, she had to admit that her mind would selfishly wander to thoughts of James and what she would be like if he were laying there, eyes blank to the world. _God, I hope she hasn't broken anything, _Gladys thought, knowing Betty's penchant to smash things when her frustration became unbearable. She strolled through the wooden double doors of the main entrance and was just about to say hello to the admitting nurse on duty when she overheard the man currently speaking with her.

"I'm looking for my daughter Marion Rowley."

Panic shot through Gladys like a thunder bolt. She did her best not to draw attention to herself as she quickly walked past Vernon Rowley and hid around the corner hugging the wall to remain within earshot of the conversation. Remembering Kate's story of him having eyes on her at all times, Gladys peered around the corner and scanned the area. Her eyes fixed on a teenage boy with dusty blonde hair, holding the hand of a small boy whose fiery auburn hair and blue eyes bared such a resemblance to Kate that Gladys could only concluded that they must be her brothers.

"I'm sorry sir we have no young ladies here by that name." The nurse replied. "Sir, are you in need of any care?"

The question made Gladys turn her gaze to the preacher. On the side of his head was a crude bandage with a distinctive brown patch where blood had seeped through the cotton and dried. Her curiosity piqued, she raised her eyebrow at the injury. Had Kate done this?

"Bless you for your concern, but I am fine." Gladys found the charismatic tone of his voice infectious and repulsive. "She is a performer, she may have checked in under her stage name, Kate Andrews." His false sense of concern made Gladys sick to her stomach.

"No. Sorry sir."

"Please miss, I know you are just doing your job, but my daughter is precious to me and she honestly may not know who she is or be terribly injured. You see her mother passed away in a fire a few days ago and she managed to get out, but as I said, she had to have been terribly injured and I need to make sure she's okay."

_Her mother is dead?_ Was this the truth? Or part of a plot to get to Kate? Looking at the boys again, she could only assume that it was true. Beginning to put the pieces together in her head, the extent of Kate's trauma began to make sense. _Oh Kate, you poor thing._

"Well there was a girl brought in with some second degree burns the other day, but her sisters have already come for her." Gladys heart sank with horror as she gripped the wall.

"Her sisters?" Gladys heard the inflection in his voice change. She needed to get back to Kate and Betty and fast. Not wasting any more time, she quickly walked down the corridor and once around the corner, took off in a blind run towards Kate's room.

X

"What?!" Betty exclaimed.

"Her father. He's here!" The brunette's repeated as she continued to hurry about the room.

Kate immediately recoiled like a scared puppy in Betty's arms. "No! No! No! He can't be! I won't go with him. NEVER AGAIN!" The trembling in her shoulders shook the sheets as she curled into the blonde.

Betty cupped the redhead's face in her hands. "He's not coming anywhere near you! I swear!"

"Betty, get her up. We need to get out of here and quickly. We have a couple of minutes at best before he busts in here."

"Shit! Come on Kate!" Betty pulled the girl to her feet. The redhead winced in pain; her feet unsteady beneath her. Betty supported her weight under her arms while Kate tried to find her balance.

"Put this on her," Gladys threw Betty her coat, "we can head out the back entrance." Doing as she was told, Betty wrapped Kate up in the green wool coat. It would be barely enough to combat the chill in the air, as the only thing Kate had on was her thin cotton hospital gown.

Quickly peeking out into the corridor, Gladys gave the all clear, but could hear voices in the distance making their way towards them. "We've got to go _**now**_!"

Practically dragging Kate to the door, "We're going as fast as we can! A little help here, princess?" Betty shot back to Gladys.

Gladys looked back, saw the struggling duo, and quickly rushed over. Supporting Kate between them, they hurriedly made their way to the stairs at the end of the hall. Kate tensed as she heard the familiar foot falls of her father coming down the adjoining hallway. With seconds to spare, the three friends disappeared behind the stairwell door without detection. Carefully navigating the staircase, they stumbled down at a quick clip and rushed out to the street, hit by the torrents of water falling from the sky. Splashing into a large puddle near the curb, Gladys flagged down a cab in front of them and they collectively sighed with temporary relief as soon as the door slammed shut. Kate couldn't help but turn in Betty's embrace and look thru the rear view window of the cab as the hospital became a fading speck in the distance. She failed to notice a small boy with bright red hair, peak out of the doorframe where the stairs let out. She missed his silent cry, as he ran forward into the rain, his brother close behind him.

Turning back around awkwardly into Betty's shoulder, Kate shivered in weakness. The blonde frowned in concern next to her, and tucked a lock of wet red hair behind her ear, against her face. Betty held the cold, delicate hands in hers, warming them with her own. The silence hung between them as the rain echoed tin-like against the roof of the car.

Gladys finger combed her hair, and shook out her dress. It had gotten soaked in the brief minute at the street corner, and the chill crept in from the air in the car. She stopped and looked over at them for a moment, her eyes trailing over Kate's form and Betty's intense gaze moved from the object of her desire to her friend. The brunette set her face and posture firmly, knowing what her next words would provoke. "We're going back to Toronto today."

"Are you crazy?" Betty's face contorted in disbelief, her gaze narrowed into a glare. "Kate is barely conscious and in severe pain. She can't go bouncing around on a train!"

"Betty…" Kate pulled her hand out from her love's grip and lightly stroked the concerned blonde's cheek. "She's right. We need to get back to Toronto. We're safer there. I'll be fine. Really."

"But… " Betty furrowed her brow but looking into the determined blue eyes, her protest was silenced. "Alright." She shook her head and looked out the side window. Moving her thoughts to the comforts and protections Toronto could offer them. James' flat, Leon, the other blue shift girls, hell even Lorna could be counted on in a pinch. Her heartbeat slowed and her concerns eased. She felt Kate's hands wrap around her waist and her head tilted back towards the injured woman, providing a place that Kate could rest against. In a small moment, everything faded against this new found physical comfort, this sensation of rightness. A small smile slid up the right side of Betty's face.

Soon after, the car came to a stop in front of their rarely used accommodations, the rain beating down in rushing waves with the wind. The driver opened the car door, and the intensity of weather howled and blew hard against their coats as they rushed out, holding on to one another. Once back inside the room, Kate painfully slipped into one of Gladys' dresses. Betty looked up train schedules in the paper while Gladys helped Kate put on some powder and lipstick as well as fix her hair to hide the cluster of blisters and bruises on her face. Luck was on their side. The next train for Toronto was leaving in thirty-five minutes which gave them plenty of time to get to the station, purchase their fares and hopefully leave horror of Trenton behind them for good.

Kate sat down on the bed for a moment. Her breathing labored. She still didn't know what the extent of her injuries were but from the pain in her side, she assumed she had broken a rib or two falling from the window. Betty knelt before her placing her hands upon her knees.

"You okay?" She asked, her golden brown eyes searching for signs of distress.

"I'm okay. I just needed to catch my breath. It just that… everything hurts Betty. I'm sorry." Kate took her lover's hands as she drew large breaths.

"Are you kidding me? You don't need to apologize for that!" The blonde exclaimed entwining their fingers.

"What happened?" Kate asked holding up Betty's bandaged hand a perplexed look on her face.

"Oh that… well… I uh…"

"Ladies, I hate to interrupt…" Gladys pointed to her wrist, "We need to go."

"I guess I'll tell you later. Come on sweetie." Betty guided Kate to her feet.

They made it to the station with fifteen minutes to spare. Gladys headed to the ticket counter while Betty led Kate to some nearby benches to rest. Kate shuttered as she rested her head on her lover's shoulder.

"Are you cold?"

"A little."

Betty opened her coat and put her left arm around the girl's shoulders. Kate responded by slipping her right hand around Betty's lower back to rest her hand on her waist.

"Better?" The blonde asked.

"Yes."

Every action they made was innocent to the unsuspecting eye, but having Kate so close, their bodies pressed together, the singer's fingertips stroking her side under the coat made the whole thing intensely erotic to Betty. They were minutes away from safety. Minutes away from heading back to Toronto were they could finally get a chance to work out what this thing between them was. Betty had lost it in the hospital room, her emotions had carried her away but despite Kate's confession; despite those kisses… an intense doubt lingered within her. She knew that until it was quelled, they would never be anything real. But that would all come with the future than was only moments away from them. Right now, this was enough. Betty pulled her closer, smiled with utter contentment and shut her eyes taking in all the sensations.

"The only thing they had left was a private cabin, it maybe a little tight for the three of us, but at least you'll be able to lie down and rest." Gladys said as she walked up to them, pulling Betty back from her tranquility.

"Oh Gladys," Kate began, "that must have been terribly expensive."

"Don't worry about it."

"I will pay you back, I promise." The redhead continued.

"Hush, now." Gladys snuggled up next to Kate. "We are taking you back where you belong. That is more important." Gladys and Betty shared a glance. They had succeeded in the impossible.

"Well, we can't stick around here all day. Let's go." Betty said rising from the bench. Again, the two girls supported their weakened friend between them as they made their way to the platform. Steam hissed from the pistons of the train as passengers hurried to get on board through the rain. Making their way in the crowds, Gladys moved forward ahead of Kate and Betty to make room for them thru all the passengers near the front of the train platform and hand off their tickets to the conductor. As Kate paused with Betty, she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck and down her spine. She felt the terror before she heard it. A chill ran down her back and she turned from Betty's arms.

"Marion!" The voice boomed from behind them at the other end of the platform.

Not looking back, Betty grabbed her and moved her forward thru the crowds. "Come on! We can make it!" Betty urged.

"Marion STOP!" The voice was getting closer and closer. The girls tried to quicken their pace, but Kate's sluggish steps hindered their escape and Kate's body locked as she felt her father's hand grab onto the back of her coat.

"You are not going anywhere!" Vernon exclaimed.

"Get your hands off her!" Betty yelled pushing him off Kate.

"You have corrupted my child you deviant." Vernon spat in response.

Betty had waited three months for this. She's curled her fingers into a fist and swung. Her fist collided with Vernon's jaw with such force that he lost his balance and fell back onto a few unsuspecting passengers.

"You will not touch her again you bastard!" Betty exclaimed standing victorious over the preacher. Betty didn't see the figure barreling through the crowds. Her arms were yanked and roughly pulled behind her as Joshua kicked her feet out from under her and she cracked her face on the platform decking. Pain flashed up her head as the jarring movements against the wood ground splinters into her cheek. Blood flowed from her mouth and nose as she struggled against the boy. His breath was loud in her ear, as he grunted in effort and pushed her firmly down. "Joshua, NO!" Betty heard Kate exclaim frantically. The plea fell on deaf ears as he continued to hold her down. But Betty still had control of her legs and she kicked up and out with her boot, catching the young man off guard. He gasped in surprise and loosened his grip, allowing Betty to rock back and throw her head back, slamming it against his ear. He released her then, as she flipped around and stood up looking back towards Vernon who had scrambled to his feet, massaging his jaw.

Betty backed up towards Kate, face streaming blood.

"Betty!" Kate wrapped her hand around her savior's clenched fist. "Kate!" Gladys called out from behind them as she ran back to her friends, the rain spattering their heads as they stood there with a bystanding crowd.

Vernon smiled and lifted a hand to his son as he helped him up. "You are a hell cat indeed. But no matter how much you fight, I know my daughter will never love you."

"You don't know a damned thing!" Betty broke her hand free from Kate readying herself to rip the man apart, her face full of murderous intent.

"Betty **stop**!" Kate quickly moved to place herself between Betty and her father. "You're wrong Father! I love her. You knew it. Mother knew it but unlike you, she only wanted me to be happy. She could accept me for who I am. And you…" her voice cracked, "you condemned us to death because of it."

"What?" Gladys asked stunned by the events unfolding before her.

Kate turned towards Betty, wiping her coat sleeve jacket against the blood rivulets on her face. She gently pulled Betty's hands into her own. "I told my mother that I love you. She was happy for me. But then he came home and everything went to hell."

"Daughter, you cannot love her." Vernon pleaded.

"But I do." Azure eyes looked deep in golden brown ones. "I love her with everything I am."

"Kate." Betty whispered. Joshua's face filled with hatred as he readied himself to lunge at his sister.

"What's going on here?" A strange voice asked. Startled, the blonde shifted her attention to policeman that stood before them. "Shit!"

Gladys immediately sprang into action. "Officer, you need to take this man and his son into custody immediately for assault, arson and possible murder." Joshua leapt at Gladys, a cry at his throat. This time Betty was ready and blocked his ramming assault, as they fell together off the railed platform and down to the track. The air whooshed out her lungs as her back slammed into the dirt, inches away from the train's wheels. Joshua fell to her side and she blocked his punch with her arms, pulling herself up as she kneed him in the face. Police whistles could be heard in her ringing ears as a uniformed man jumped down into the track and over to them. Another officer stood above them and grabbed Joshua pulling him forward and up to the platform. As Betty turned and was about to thank the officer, he spun her around back to her knees and cuffed her hands behind her back. In shock, Betty cried out as metal bit into her wrists.

Kate plead for her release, as Gladys held onto her from behind. But the officer was unconvinced. "Really? From what I saw it looks like she's just as guilty of assault as they are." The officer looked in Betty's direction. Taking a better look at the rest of the parties involved, he concentrated on Kate noticing the obvious job to hide the wounds on her face. "Miss, are you alright?" Gladys protectively gripped onto Kate's good arm.

"This is all his fault." Betty glared at Vernon as she was lifted from the tracks and down the platform.

"Silence you temptress. Now everyone will know what you truly are. So help me God. Officer I will happily comply and answer any questions you ask of me." The Preacher's tone was condescending and confident.

"You are all coming with me so that we can get this sorted." The officer said as he gesturing his uniformed men with their prisoner towards the platform exit. Gladys turned to Kate as they watched Betty and Joshua being hauled off in handcuffs. Grimly, they followed.


End file.
